Filling fluid containers such as, for example, containers to store oxygen, natural gas, propane, carbon dioxide, etc. can be accomplished in several ways. One known method involves storing large quantities of a fluid in, for example, a storage tanker and transporting smaller, mobile fluid containers to the storage tanker to fill the containers. Another known method involves storing a large quantity of fluid in a large mobile storage tanker (e.g., a storage tanker built on a trailer) and driving the mobile storage tanker to customer locations to offer on-site refilling services.
Users that frequently fill smaller, mobile containers often store large quantities of fluid locally. For example, a fire department may store oxygen within the fire department facility to enable on-site refilling of mobile oxygen tanks for firefighters. Similarly, natural gas dealers may store natural gas to refill smaller, customer fluid containers. A known method for on-site refilling involves storing fluid in a single relatively large fluid storage container and transferring fluid from the large storage container to a container to be filled (e.g., a relatively smaller, mobile container). However, in some cases, sufficient space may not be available to accommodate the relatively large single fluid container that is needed to provide adequate refilling services.
To address space constraints, a plurality of smaller storage containers may be used in combination with a fluid dispensing cascade system. A cascade system is typically implemented by connecting or fluidly coupling a plurality of fluid storage containers to a regulator via a plurality of sequence valves. Such cascade systems may be used to refill, for example, relatively small fluid containers with fluid from the storage containers. As the pressure in one of the storage containers becomes sufficiently depleted (e.g., during a refilling operation), a sequence valve enables delivery of stored fluid from another one of the storage containers having a relatively higher pressure. Known cascade systems often involve complex implementations requiring large amounts of fluid line to fluidly couple sequence valves and other components of the cascade system. As a result, assembling and disassembling known cascade systems for installation and maintenance purposes is time consuming and expensive.